I just realized I have not posted many book reviews penned prior to the inception of my WordPress blog (circa October 2010). After reading the recent announcement from Tor that Brandon Sanderson, one of my top ten favorite authors, had won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Novel, I felt the need to post my review, from August 2010, of the winning novel: The Way of Kings.
Update: Brandon posted about winning the award (he actually had two novels in the running) and traveling in Europe at his blog.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The initial installment of the Stormlight Archives epic fantasy series stormed through my early September. Filled with the whispering wind of world building, the clatter and clamour of conflicted and conniving characters, the fermenting furor and flustering foreshadowing all building to a thundering tumultuous tempest that is yet the calm before the impending Everstorm.
Sanderson built a world far removed from our own, a rocky seemingly barren continent repeatedly ravaged by highstorms that routinely pummel the landscape and settlements with boulders and anything else it can find to hurl westward (or leeward, as highstorms always originate from the east). Plant and animal life adapted to this harsh environment by developing tough skins (exoskeletons are the norm here) and defensive mechanisms (prehensile plants that retract into their shells when approached or threatened). Humans build in caves, crevasses or very sturdy stone buildings, always facing leeward, with slanting roofs and sides to channel the wind from the highstorms over and around the structures.
Stormlight forms the foundation for the magic systems introduced and ironically is renewed or originates from the highstorms. Gems, like diamonds, garnets, topazes and emeralds, are infused with stormlight if left outside during a highstorm. The currency of the monetary system includes tiny chips of gems imbedded in spheres of glass and double as lamps, torches and other light sources. For those lucky enough to be magic wielders, the spheres also provide a ready reserve of energy for Lashing or Soulcasting. Having previously read Sanderson’s Mistborn series, I can’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed in the Lashing magic system, for it’s similarity to Allomancy (at least from a physics point-of-view).
Through several characters, who just happen to be scholars, we learn some of the history, philosophy, mythology, anthropology and religion of Roshar. Vorinism is the dominant religion of the times, but we see glimpses of how different it may have been in the distant past, especially when most history is written by the conquerors or the last man standing. Prejudice and some persecution persist, based on people’s eye color (current elite of society have light colored eyes, as opposed to the lowly darkeyes) and slavery is common, although slaves receive reduced wages in most cases. The most perplexing unanswered question stemmed from women covering their left hands (referred to as their safehands) for modesty’s sake. Not being genitalia, I wasn’t sure why a left hand (as opposed to a right hand) would evoke lust or some other unseemly immodest emotion in men. But, I’m not judging, just curious, as there are many examples from our own world of strange gender customs and modesty mores.
I related to and enjoyed many of the characters, especially Kaladin (heroic surgeon/spearman/slave/savior – this book focuses most on this character), Szeth (reluctant assassin), Dalinar (noble war leader tortured by visions during highstorms) and Wit (lives up to his name). Strangely, for the first time while reading a novel by Sanderson, I didn’t connect well with the female characters: Josnah (a heretic and devoted researcher/scholar) and Shallan (Josnah’s ward/student with a secret scarred past and a secret ulterior motive).
Sanderson excels at action sequences, vividly portraying amazing feats of magic, thrilling fight scenes and stunning battle sequences. At times, I forgot I was reading, becoming completely absorbed in what looked and felt like a spectacular cinematic experience. Hollywood screenwriters and directors could definitely learn something from Brandon Sanderson.
The ending left enough unanswered questions and new revelations to make me cringe at the two to three year wait for the second novel. I can’t say I was ‘happy’ with some of the discoveries, especially Dalinar’s final vision (actually a repeat of his first vision but our first glimpse of it). I would love to expound on this and rant a bit about the religious or philosophical repercussions, but I fear spoiling a key element and don’t want to scare prospective readers away from a magnificent epic fantasy.
I appreciated Kalladin’s struggles and triumphs, yet he has much to learn and finally has the resources and encouragement to achieve Life before Death, Strength before Weakness and the Journey before the Destination.
September 16th Addition: Brandon commissioned (and personally paid for) beautiful interior illustrations, color endplates of glyphs and maps, natural history sketchbook excerpts, various military maps all presented as character created to complement his excellent textual world building.
Here are some photos I took of the end plates from my first edition:
And finally, to top off the interior artwork, Michael Whelan created the stunning coverart (Click here for the artist’s notes on creating the cover artwork).
GR Status Updates:
| 09/04/2010 | page 1 | 0.0% | 2 comments | |
| 09/04/2010 | page 35 | 3.0% | “Starting Part One ‘Above Silence'” 13 comments | |
| 09/04/2010 | page 61 | 6.0% | “Starting third chapter ‘City of Bells'” 6 comments | |
| 09/04/2010 | page 73 | 7.0% | “Starting Chapter 4 ‘The Shattered Plains'” 4 comments | |
| 09/04/2010 | page 83 | 8.0% | “Starting Chapter 5 ‘Heretic'” 3 comments | |
| 09/04/2010 | page 95 | 9.0% | “Starting Chapter 6 ‘Bridge Four'” 2 comments | |
| 09/04/2010 | page 112 | 11.0% | “Starting Chapter 7 ‘Anything Reasonable'” 2 comments | |
| 09/05/2010 | page 145 | 14.0% | “Starting Chapter 9 ‘Damnation'” 4 comments | |
| 09/05/2010 | page 164 | 16.0% | “Finished Part One” | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 171 | 17.0% | “In search of … Hoid” | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 181 | 18.0% | “Starting Part Two ‘The Illuminating Storms'” 2 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 201 | 20.0% | “Finished Chapter 12 ‘Unity'” 2 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 210 | 21.0% | “Finished Chapter 13 ‘Ten Heartbeats'” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 220 | 22.0% | “Finished Chapter 14 ‘Payday'” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 224 | 22.0% | “A tenant of Vorinism” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 227 | 23.0% | “Dalinor remembers Gavilar’s death quote from the ancient text entitled The Way of Kings” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 238 | 24.0% | “Another reference to textbook The Way of Kings aka the Codes” 2 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 241 | 24.0% | “Finished Chapter 14 ‘Decoy'” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 244 | 24.0% | “Alethi Codes of War” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 257 | 26.0% | “Finished Chapter 16 ‘Cocoons'” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 273 | 27.0% | “Finished Chapter 17 ‘A Bloody, Red Sunset'” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 278 | 28.0% | “Fourth copy edit mistake I’ve found in the first 300 pages. All have involved two letter prepositions.” 2 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 282 | 28.0% | “A Calling and a Glory” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 284 | 28.0% | “The War of Loss aka Hierocracy” 4 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 292 | 29.0% | “Another description of the Way of Kings” 2 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 308 | 31.0% | “Finished Chapters 18 ‘Highprince of War’ and Chapter 19 ‘Starfalls'” 3 comments | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 316 | 31.0% | “Trust and Power” 1 comment | |
| 09/06/2010 | page 351 | 35.0% | “Starting Chapter 24 ‘The Gallery of Maps'” 1 comment | |
| 09/07/2010 | page 360 | 36.0% | “Starting Chapter 25 ‘The Butcher'” 1 comment | |
| 09/08/2010 | page 377 | 37.0% | “Found another copy edit mishap with a missing two-letter proposition.” 4 comments | |
| 09/08/2010 | page 386 | 38.0% | “Starting Chapter 27 ‘Chasm Duty'” 1 comment | |
| 09/08/2010 | page 406 | 40.0% | “Starting Chapter 28 ‘Decision'” | |
| 09/10/2010 | page 428 | 43.0% | “Finished Part Two” | |
| 09/10/2010 | page 451 | 45.0% | “Finished second set of Interlude short stories” | |
| 09/11/2010 | page 469 | 47.0% | “Redundant ‘close’ or am I just not reading this right: ‘A true scholar must not close her mind close on any topic, no matter how certain she may feel.'” 3 comments | |
| 09/11/2010 | page 496 | 49.0% | “Finished three chapters from Kaladin’s PoV.” | |
| 09/11/2010 | page 512 | 51.0% | “Finished Chapter 33 ‘Cymatics'” 2 comments | |
| 09/11/2010 | page 524 | 52.0% | “Finished Chapters 34 & 35 ‘Stormwall’ and ‘A Light by Which to See'” 6 comments | |
| 09/11/2010 | page 600 | 60.0% | “Finished ‘Beggars and Barmaids’ chapter.” 1 comment | |
| 09/11/2010 | page 626 | 62.0% | “Kaladin’s regrets haunt him.” 1 comment | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 645 | 64.0% | “Shallan becomes more desperate and possibly delusional.” | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 663 | 66.0% | “Kaladin meets Adolin.” | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 671 | 67.0% | “Kaladin hears Cenn’s death reading.” 4 comments | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 676 | 67.0% | “Starting Chapter 48 ‘Strawberry'” 2 comments | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 687 | 68.0% | “Starting Chapter 49 ‘To Care'” 1 comment | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 696 | 69.0% | “Starting Chapter 50 ‘Backbreaker Powder'” | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 704 | 70.0% | “Finished Part Three” 1 comment | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 721 | 72.0% | “Finished third Interludes” 1 comment | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 730 | 72.0% | “Another copy edit mishap” 1 comment | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 751 | 75.0% | “Aha! Hoid again!” 2 comments | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 763 | 76.0% | “Starting Chapter 55 ‘An Emerald Broam'” | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 777 | 77.0% | “Starting Chapter 56 ‘That Storming Book'” | |
| 09/12/2010 | page 789 | 78.0% | “Starting Chapter 57 ‘Wandersail'” 1 comment | |
| 09/13/2010 | page 811 | 81.0% | “Starting Chapter 58 ‘Journey'” | |
| 09/13/2010 | page 857 | 85.0% | “Starting Chapter 61 ‘Right for Wrong'” | |
| 09/13/2010 | page 878 | 87.0% | “Starting Chapter 63 ‘Fear'” | |
| 09/14/2010 | page 926 | 92.0% | “Finished Chapter 67 ‘Words'” 3 comments | |
| 09/14/2010 | page 945 | 94.0% | “Starting Chapter 69 ‘Justice'” | |
| 09/14/2010 | page 962 | 96.0% | “Finished Part Four (no Interludes before Part Five).” | |
| 09/14/2010 | page 1007 | 100.0% | 1 comment |